It's hard to type when you're on the move!

Finally have some time just to sit and catch my breath. The past few days have been fun and active, but I have rarely had a chance just to sit down and catch up on my progress.
Sorry for the delays in updates, all, but they will be coming up better and paster.

First things first, from the looks of things I will be swinging my nose back north at the end of the week - I'm heading home to hull. I came down south to catch up with old friends and old family, and to learn a thing or two, not to mention give all the old memories a good old stir. I feel that I have done everything I set out to do, and I feel far more within myself than I ever have before.
But don't get me wrong - this journey is by no means over! I will keep on my toes and I know now that my life cannot survive a stagnation of the sort that I underwent before.

I have lived a little now, and grown a taste for it!

Anyway, updates!
On tuesday I left Lincoln by coach, and coasted all the way down to Leicester. The entire environment there is completely different - more variation, but all more misery - more sour faces than I had ever seen before, but the general bustle of people walking by put a lie to the segregation one would feel in Hull, or the stilted solitude that I felt in Redhill.
From there, I went on into London and toured my way around it - night was falling quickly and I had to find a place to put my head down for the night, not to mention my backpack, which was starting to have the feel of a ten-tonne weight!
I got booked into the Generator, then ghosted off to my old haunts in London - Camden, China Town, and Trafalgar Square. So I'm a tourist, so what?
London has changed in one way and one way only. The smoking ban has hit it's residents pretty hard. I didn't see a single smoker out there, not even in the Soho area, or along the west end.
After a hurried free pint, and an even more hurried chinese meal, I went to watch "Dans le Ville de Sylvia" - In the City of Sylvia, a french film about a man's obsession with one woman, and his hope to find her. In it he even overlooks other pretty women and dismisses them - he admires their beauty and their sensuality (it was french after all!) but they all seem to be lacking.
They are not her.
I visually enticing film, with the constant sound of real street life carrying on in the background - a thought provoking piece, but not for everyone...not for many I feel. But one scene in paticular did catch my eye - our hero settles for a bland goth girl in a local bar, one so plastered in makeup and eyeliner that nothing natural, not real beauty, could possibly shine through...at in the night, in the dark, while they sleep, she opens her eyes and the way that the light catches her eyes in the darkness was...haunting. The glint of moonlight in the dakrk hinted at something... dark, and hollow, something that could only be defined as black and hollow.
It captured me.

I had a great time in Generator, and had a few beers in the on-site bar, and talked with some people, a romanian, canadian, some americans, and a young girl from china. In the night, however, there was a strangeness that struck me near dumb. I heard a squeaking from the bunk above mine, and french whispering - I rolled over, my cheeks and ears burning in embarassment - I was an unwitting witness to a couple having sex... or was I?
I heard only one voice, and indeed there was only one in the bunk - yet it did not change my disomfit at being an unwilling intruder to something I had always seen as private. Still, it seems, I have taboos and rules set in my own mind. In some ways I am still very inexperienced.

Coming back to Redhill was an experience too - I met up with all the old gang, Gannon, Ricey, Saan, Jammy and Junade, and even Gary. I had no idea that Gary was here, and though I only saw very little of him it was good to see him again. The old gang reunited and they hadn't changed a bit - still hanging out at ricey's, watching movies and playing games. I was pleased to find that I settled back into my old routines of messing around on games and eating chocolates all day - it is in some ways very comforting to know that there will always be a place to call home.

I also saw my aunt, and two cousins. Cameron has grown very tall and serious. Quiet, but friendly in his own way, and a good gamer. He plays COD like a pro, and even proved to be a challenge against me. He has taken after his father in a big way. His brother, however, has his mother's temperament - hyperactive and cheeky. He also was very shy around me - I am little more that a vague memory to him I am sure. But they are both big, healthy boys, football fans, and very active. I am proud of them, and I am happy for my Uncle, that he has found himself such a good life.
I have yet to meet Uncle Grant - he has been very busy as always, but I hope to se him tomorrow, on saturday. He is still working hard, but from the look of his boys he still has some time for family. I hope, too, that I will find some time to claim some of my old photos back from the dank depths of storage while I am here.

I have thought a lot about the past while here, of the four of hearts, of Sophie, Alex, Gary and myself going off on trips or just hanging out, and of my lost days in college. I even considered contacting Alex, but I know, to my shame, that I would never be man enough to face her after all our history, but neither would I wish to hurt her by pitching up out of the blue and dredge up all those old memories and hurts.
It has made me think about what I want, and who I want to be with, and about people I miss, and people I love.
This has been a good week, and now that I know what can be done in just one week, or even in just one day, I will never let them slip by me like that again.

You all just better keep checking up on me to make sure I do just that!
Live life as much as I can while I can.

Future plans: meet my uncle for football practice, and for lunch, and call my grandmother in south africa on sunday for mother's day.

More updates soon!